Benchmark Holdings set for breakthrough with sea lice treatment
BIOTECH FIRM Benchmark Holdings, which develops vaccines to keep fish healthy rather than using antibiotics to treat disease, said it delivered good organic revenue growth and improving profits in its latest half year.
The Sheffield-based firm said the outlook is positive as the drivers for its business are stronger than ever before, with increasing recognition from consumers, producers and regulators of the need for sustainable solutions.
Benchmark has high hopes for its Ectosan sea lice treatment, which is going through the last set of big commercial trials before it can get its marketing licence.
The group’s chief executive Malcolm Pye said: “It’s going very well. All the trials have shown 100 per cent efficacy, which is unusual if not unheard of. It’s almost as though the fish don’t know they are being treated. It shows very low stress for fish and a very low re-infection rate.”
Benchmark estimates that the salmon industry loses more than $500m as a result of sea lice a year, at a time when there has been a recognised lack of effective solutions in the market which are environmentally and welfare friendly.
Benchmark will sell Ectosan in combination with its purification system CleanTreat, which eliminates all medicine residues ahead of water discharge into the ocean.
Once fully licenced, the group anticipates peak annual sales of up to £45m for the new treatment, with some revenues already having been booked during the trials phase.
Revenue rose 9 per cent to £76m in the six months to March 31. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 91 per cent to £6.3m. The group made a £3.6m reported profit, up from a loss of £8.2m.